Anillin promotes astral microtubule-directed cortical myosin polarization.

ABSTRACT: Assembly of a cytokinetic contractile ring is a form of cell polarization in which the equatorial cell cortex becomes differentiated from the polar regions. Microtubules direct cytokinetic polarization via the central spindle and astral microtubules. The mechanism of central spindle-directed furrow formation is reasonably well understood, but the aster-directed pathway is not. In aster-directed furrowing, cytoskeletal factors accumulate to high levels at sites distal to the asters and at reduced levels at cortical sites near the asters. In this paper, we demonstrate that the cytoskeletal organizing protein anillin (ANI-1) promotes the formation of an aster-directed furrow in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. Microtubule-directed nonmuscle myosin II polarization is aberrant in embryos deplete

SUBMITTER: Tse YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3164463 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature